Milk and eggs are staples in the diets of millions of Americans. But should they be on your child’s day-to-day menu? Like scrambled eggs or a milkshake, opinions are mixed.
Two recent studies support the idea that kids benefit from drinking cow’s milk and eating eggs, but a registered dietitian who works with parents and their kids says a diet free of cow’s milk and eggs can be nutritionally sufficient.
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that children who drink milk that doesn’t come from cows are shorter than children who drink milk that does come from cows. Another study, this one appearing in the journal Pediatrics, showed eggs significantly improve the growth of young children.
In the milk study, researchers looked at 5,034 children from ages 2 to 4. Of those studied, 92 percent drank cow’s milk every day and 13 percent drank non-cow’s milk.
For each cup of non-cow’s milk they drank daily, children were almost 0.16 inches shorter than average for their age, according to the study, while children were nearly 0.08 inches taller than average for each cup of cow’s milk they drank daily.
The study didn’t pinpoint why children who drank non-cow’s milk were shorter on average than those who drank cow’s milk. But the study’s authors theorize that kids who drink non-cow’s milk might consume less dietary protein and fat than those who drink cow’s milk.
“The nutritional content of cow’s milk is regulated in the United States and Canada, while the nutritional contents of most non-cow’s milks are not,” Dr. Jonathon Maguire, the study’s lead author and a pediatrician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, says in a news release. “The lack of regulation means the nutritional content varies widely from one non-cow’s milk product to the next, particularly in the amount of protein and fat.”
Maguire points out that two cups of cow’s milk contain 16 grams of protein, representing 100 percent of the daily protein required for a 3-year-old. By contrast, two cups of almond milk typically contain 4 grams of protein, accounting for just 25 percent of the daily protein required for a 3-year-old.
The American Academy of Pediatrics doesn’t recommend cow’s milk, goat’s milk or soy milk for a child during the first year of life. The academy says that once they’re 1 year old, children should consume two to three servings of milk or milk products per day, with serving sizes fluctuating according to age.
The egg study looked at more than 160 children age 6 to 9 months in Ecuador. In 2015, a random group of infants was fed one egg a day for six months, and the other group didn’t eat any eggs. Kids who consumed eggs showed a decreased incidence of stunted growth and low body weight, the study found.
Lora Iannotti, lead author of the study and an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis who specializes in child nutrition, says eggs are “a good source of nutrients for growth and development in young children.”
The Cleveland Clinic agrees. It says eggs “are an economical and healthy source of protein for your growing child,” but it does note that egg yolks contain a considerable amount of dietary cholesterol. As such, your child can safely eat only one whole egg a day, the Cleveland Clinic says.
Registered dietitian Adina Pearson, who runs HealthyLittleEaters.com, acknowledges cow’s milk and eggs are rich sources of protein, fat and other nutrients for children. “So in that sense, they are wonderfully nutritious and positively contribute to a child’s food intake,” she says.
But many kids don’t drink cow’s milk or eat eggs because they’re allergic, their family follows a plant-based vegan diet or they just don’t like either kind of food, Pearson says.
“There is no evidence to suggest that such kids are at big risk for malnutrition in an otherwise balanced diet,” she says. “While I don’t recommend limiting a child’s diet or taking away milk and eggs, if your child can’t or won’t eat these foods, then there are many other foods that can fill in the blanks.”
As an alternative to cow’s milk, Pearson recommends calcium-fortified soy milk or pea milk, rather than almond or rice milk, which tend to be too low in calories and fat. However, she adds, healthy fats can be found in foods like avocados, nut butters and olive oil.
As for protein, good substitutes for cow’s milk or eggs are beans, lentils, tofu or meat, she says.
“The key to supporting children in getting adequate nutrition is to serve and enjoy a wide variety of foods,” Pearson says, “and eat together as a family as often as possible.”